Shipping iPhone out of US. Is it illegal?

I`ve finally decided to get an iPhone for me but couldnt find anyone coming back from US to get it for me. So I asked my friend in Florida to get one from apple store and ship it to me. Though he is willing to do this, what he`s afraid of is if it`s illegal to ship an iPhone out of US. I dont want to get him into any trouble so just want to confirm if this is true. AFAIK you shouldnt have any problem shipping an mobile out of us but what I m not sure is shipping an iPhone which is not even supposed to work out of US.

So can he get into any trouble if he ships one(or maybe more) to me? Just cant wait to get one in my hands. Just cant.

EDIT: BTW I`ll be shipping it to Dubai(duty free) and from there my brother in law will get it to India when he comes home back in October.

I also don't see any clear reason why it would be illegal. You might have to be careful about customs or duties / whether it could be declared a "gift." But the phone itself shouldn't be a controlled substance/product, I don't think.

I get stuff shipped over from the US a lot, and as long as the relevant paperwork (and in the UK import duties/VAT) is complied with then there is no problem.
Since you're shipping to Dubai it would be even less of a problem. No duties. Nice!

Thanx for confirming this for me. So I m finally going to get an iPhone. Might not be big deal for you guys in US since you had it over two months ago but here in India there are only a handful of people who might`ve got an iPhone. It`d be really cool. Cant wait.

Actually just because people do it doesn't mean that it's not illegal...

Not sure what the current laws are but there was a time that certain technologies could not cross the border because we were afraid of it falling into the wrong hands. I can't remember all the details but a friend was not allowed to take their laptop somewhere because it had Word Perfect on it. Tells how long ago it was...

It isn't illegal, just when the country it's being shipped to has some trade barriers with the US, then it's illegal.

Oh, only legal bump in the road is paying local VAT or any other purchase tax, which is up to your own ethical standards to declare or not... (or maybe customs picks out your package and taxes it for you)

Uh, yeah, as a matter of fact I think it probably is illegal. The US prevents exporting a lot of technology products anywhere outside the US. For example, I just had to have a Seagate internal notebook drive replaced under warranty, and I had to agree not to ship the replacement drive outside the US anywhere, for any reason. And that's just a hard drive.

Now whether the item would actually be confiscated or you prosecuted for exporting it, that's another thing. As mentioned above, much goes out on eBay and US Customs doesn't freak out about that. The law says one thing, but the purpose of course is export for nefarious uses.

So if it is illegal for this "US" technology — made in China with mostly made in China components BTW — to be sent outside the US, then how can Apple be selling it in Europe?

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They approve *Apple* to sell it, export it, what have you, to Europe or wherever. The manufacturer of my hard drive can sell all over the world, but I can't export my drive.

I didn't say it makes sense or anything.

And please don't turn this into an anti-American thing. We aren't, none of us, our governments. And most countries have quirks of governmental policy that make no sense and seem grossly self-superior to people of other nations. The TV operating license in the UK -- I don't even know if it still exists -- seemed crazy authoritarian to Americans, although it made sense in the UK from the legacy of government-funded TV networks there. I seem to remember your former PM having a little romance with our chief executive, supporting policies of some contention here in the States, thereby likely perpetuating problematic policy longer than it would have run had their been no extra-national support at all.

Outbound to EU or Asia, nobody *ever* checks me. Inbound to States, and not just recently, but for at least 15 years, they *always* check me. It must be the T-shirt I wear that reads "Bad Guy". When I come back I usually have multiple nonstandard entrance/exits -- like by train at obscure border posts, ferry stations, etc. -- to several countries in my passport, but still. One time the US Customs agent kept telling me to pull the cart my bags were dumped on closer. I'd pull closer. He wanted even closer. Finally I pulled it so far I inadvertently stepped onto the blue tape on the floor you're not supposed to cross at the counter. He grabbed me by the shoulder and *shoved* me about five feet. Said something about, Don't want people crossing to this side here because you might grab my gun and shoot me. I almost said, And you wonder why, but then I didn't want a cavity search.

Good thing I'm not up to anything. I'd be in the federal pen. I couldn't smuggle so much as an aspirin back into the States.

Sorry, I couldn't be bothered to read this so I apologise if it's been said already.

It's not illegal, but, if it gets checked at customs as it's quite expensive, you might be liable to pay extra tax.

My Macbook was shipped from the US, and I was lucky and didn't pay any tax.

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Ross, we were saying it might be illegal for an individual to do it, depending on the technology, but it's not really enforced for individuals, except for the customs tax part. The States has some regulations about technology that can't be exported, some to anywhere, some to certain countries. Like your MacBook can't be exported, I bet, at least to some places, but Apple has applied for and received a waiver to export them. Again, rarely enforced on the individual level except for customs tax on receiving end.

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